British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a deal on Monday in which Turkey bought 20 Eurofighter Typhoon jets for 8 billion pounds ($10.7 billion), his office said, deepening the NATO allies' defence ties and bolstering Turkish air defences.

In July, Turkey and Britain had signed a preliminary purchase deal for 40 Typhoons approved by Eurofighter consortium members including Germany, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.

Starmer met President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday to sign the agreement, which comes as Turkey seeks to leverage the advanced warplanes to make up ground with regional rivals such as Israel, which has unleashed strikes across the Middle East this year.

Turkey, enjoying its warmest ties with the West in years, has sought to procure the

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